Monday, December 25, 2017

Here's another single for you, something a little out of the ordinary, a little newer than the usual share around here, but something I think you'll enjoy nonetheless. I saw this single shared out at another blog, and realized that I had seen it somewhere recently. Turned out it was in the stack of random stuff I had bought at Banana's recently, but hadn't listened to it yet. It just happens to be a very early synth record, one of the very first Christmas records I've ever heard that sounds like this. Just download it, you'll see. We didn't get a White Christmas today here in Central Florida, but you get one from me. This is Camille-White Christmas b/w Snowbelle (EMI 7" 45 RPM EMI 5014, Produced For Camille By Karl Jenkins, Mike Ratledge And Mike Thorne, Stereo, 1979). If anybody knows anything about this single, please share, it's a bit of a mystery.

Ernie, I can shed no light on the record itself. But producer Karl Jenkins plays woodwinds and keys, and was (for a time) a member of jazz-rock group Soft Machine. Mike Ratledge is a keyboard wizard, and was a founding member of Soft Machine. Mike Thorne is mainly a producer who has worked with Roger Daltrey, John Cale, Bronski Beat, Soft Cell, Nina Hagen, Laurie Anderson, and Soft Machine.

Here's a clip featuring Ratledge and Jenkins; can't imagine why they were brought in to produce those popcorn tracks.

Got Vinyl?

Ernie's Christmas record want list. There might be something in that stack of Christmas records you want to throw out that I need. Actually, there's a lot more that I need that I don't know about, so send 'em all to me (especially singles)! (Revised 03 March 2018)